Mounted horse goes berserk during R-Day

The maiden show jumping by Mounted Police during the Republic Day celebrations at Torchlight Parade Grounds at Bannimantap here, on Tuesday, triggered tense moments as one of the horses ran amok.

The incident occurred due to the blatant decision of the authorities concerned to deploy the horse for the show, even in its postpartum period.

Badri, the horse with Somanna astride, was following other horses in the show jump, but created tense moments, much before jumping over the maiden hurdle.

The rider, who was taken aback, pulled the reins to control it, only to cause the animal gallop with its front legs, skirting dust. Soon after, the horse ran amok towards the gallery, forcing some of the audience, seated in the front, run for safety.

The horse was later brought under control with the help of other horses.According to veterinarian of Mounted Police Dr M P Poornananda, the horse had delivered a calf, a few months ago.

“As it was in rest period, it could not be trained for the required period. Even then, there were no such indications as it had performed well during the training session held at the same grounds ahead of the D-Day. The horse might have got frightened after seeing the huge crowd, present at the grounds,” he said.

Badri was added to the fleet of horses one-and-a-half years ago. It was brought from Kathiawad in Gujarat. However, only after bringing the animal here, it was noticed that it had conceived. The animal delivered a pony, which was named ‘Basava’. Following the delivery, it could not be trained for the required period.

It may be mentioned that during the previous Dasara, held in October last, Prathap, a horse of the Mounted Police had collapsed and died of heart attack during the annual show jumping, organised as a part of torch light parade.

Maiden show

For the first time, the district administration had planned show jumping to provide a platform to medal-winning equestrians from the Mounted Police to showcase their talent. So, horses ‘Cane Dance’ with Mahesh as its rider, ‘Lady Heaven’ of Rudrappa, ‘Bellbay’ of Sandesh and Somanna’s ‘Badri’ had been selected to perform. While other horses did it with ease, Badri was apprehensive.